Killing - Before you're killed
by GeorgeDGreen
Summary: Most of us just play through the Civil war questline, not thinking about countless Imperials/Stormcloaks we kill. This short story offers the opposite perspective - Dragonborn, as perceived by Hadvar and enemy soldiers, this time young Breton spellsword from High Rock. Killing a soldier is easy. Killing a person - not so much. Rated M for violence.


Cold night in the western side of the Reach brought the freezing wind from the mountain peaks. A wind carried yellow and orange leaves of many trees that shook their branches, like they fear the ever present cold. Somebody walked down the cobblestone path, near the place where Hadvar camped, watching the flickering fire from the Stormcloak camp, just down the road. Other Imperial soldiers shivered in their boots, but he knew just how cold Skyrim can get. After all, he grew up here. He saw somebody walking up the path, just where the Stormcloaks camped.

„That fool will get himself killed.." he muttered, trying to make out the shape of a person, squinting his eyes, in vain hopes of adapting to darkness. From the darkness, it looked like Wisp, but Hadvar knew those things inhabited only warm lowlands of Cyrodiil. Small glimmer of light walked closer, and when the person walked close enough, he could finally make out the shape.

Judging only by the face, he recognized a Breton girl they caught on the border, along with those damned rebels. She screamed something about an official business. Yeah, right. She could have been a spy, for all they knew. Lucky for her that the dragon attacked, then. Still, she proved herself an ally. Remembering that, he lowered his guard and smiled. It was their promised, secret reinforcement. A new recruit. And if the rumors were true, she was also a Dragonborn. Having somebody as powerful as her by their side will improve their chances, tenfold.

„It's you, Dragonborn! What was your name? Was it Kira? How have you been?" he asked. Girl looked armed to the teeth, in her glittering glass armor, with a glowing, golden longsword at her waist. Still, her face showed innocence.

„I guess I'm a Dragonborn. Greybeards seem to think so. And you're Hadvar, right? Imagine seeing you here! How have you been?" she asked, glancing over her shoulders.

„It's good to have Dragonborn on our side." he said, and kicking an ice covered stone he continued:" I need this to go well. This is my first command since they promoted me after Whiterun."

Of course, Whiterun was a horrible affair. Some times, Hadvar would go to sleep, still seeing the screaming faces of young men and women, pleading for mercy. Mercy he couldn't give. Orders were to kill, not to spare. And this was a war after all. Nightmares would wake him up in cold sweat. Feeling the heavy weight on his chest, he choose to open up, at least a bit:

„You know, some night when I close my eyes, I see the battle stretched out before me, like I'm still there... do the men you've killed haunt you? Mine do..." he asked.

She took the helmet off, running fingers through the blazing red hair. Like the first time he saw her, Hadvar was kind of taken aback by her cute face. Usually, it would make him warm inside, but there was something about this girl. She had a soft, gentle voice, along with childlike facial features. Yet, one of her eyes was dead – Hadvar felt the milky iris staring right through his chest. The contrast made him shiver. It wasn't just how she looked. There was some unnatural calmness about her.

She smiled, and said:"If you hadn't killed them, they would have killed you.", like killing a person meant nothing.

Realizing she wouldn't give him the closure he seeks, Hadvar sighed and answered:"That's what I keep telling myself. But, never mind all that. We've got a job to do. „

Switching her weight to another leg, she played with a pommel of her golden longsword.

„I saw a wagon down the road." she stated.

Hadvar smiled on his luck.

„Oh, really? It just so happens we've been tracking a wagon down the road! For about a day now!"

Seeing how she hasn't responded, he continued:"So, what's in there?"

Girl looked over her shoulder. A man in elven armor, with a huge glass greatsword, ran next to her.

„Oh, Erik, my love, light of my life. You 're here." she mused, glancing towards man.

"In flesh and bone." Erik smiled. Girl turned her head back to Hadvar."It's just coins and weapons." she said.

Hadvar immediatelly squinted his eyes. This girl is definitively suspicious.

„Oh really? How do you know that?" he asked. She could still be a spy, after all. Maybe a double-spy at that. All is fair in love and war, as his father used to say.

„It doesn't matter." she shrugged her shoulders. Hadvar sighed, again. This girl was really handful. She simply did not trust him, and he felt a sting of disappointment. Being flat out rejected by a cute girl hurt his pride, even while she obviously had somebody else.

„Oh, fine. Keep your secrets. I see how it is." he said, definitively assuming she 's a spy. Still, this was a war, and he accepted this risk. Imperials needed all the help they could get.

„So, what's the plan?" she asked. And Hadvar felt the pride swelling up in chest. While they froze their asses in the cold Reach night, he devised a perfect plan. He didn't sleep whole night, trying to come up with many different variations and this one was perfect. One bright spot at his career.

„That wagon recently had a little accident. They're stranded now, just up the road. We're outnumbered, but I have a plan. You got here just in time."

She nodded him to continue, and he did, saying:"First, we're going to take out their sentry, then we'll situate ourselves overlooking the camp. Next, you'll infiltrate their position and get their attention while we hit them with a barrage of arrows."  
Hadvar looked at her face, trying to make out whether she agrees or not. Taking another breath, hoping for the best he continued:"With a bit of luck, we'll catch them completely off guard and even the odds a little."

Hadvar saw how those Stormcloaks fought. Many of them were veterans, many of them fought in a Great War. Even young rebels practically grew up with a hammer in hand. He saw some of them wielding hammers size of a child. If they simply attacked, both Hadvar and young Imperial soldiers that followed him would die.

Girl laughed a little bit. He was definitively right. This girl was either extremely brave, or crazy. There was a mad confidence in the last of her healthy eyes, as she said:"I have a better plan. You wait here, and I 'll take care of it."

Hadvar felt his whole body freezing, and not just because of cold. She actually believed she would defeat all of them, by herself. There was no doubt in her eyes, or at least one that remained.

„All right, if you insist. But we'll come running if it sounds like things have gotten out of hand."

 _Stormcloak camp_

Five Stormcloak rebels sat around a camp. Hjari, their leader, roasted a rabbit over the fire. Woman served in a Great war, and all of the kids in the group looked up to her.

„Here, have a bit to eat, Alric. You're going to starve."

Alric hugged his knees. Youngest of them all, he joined the Stormcloaks after the Aldmeri Dominion kidnapped his sisters. Even while feigning bravery, all of them knew he was weakest and most timid.

„I can't, Hjari. Something's wrong. Can you feel it?" he asked. Agar, who they also called The Hammer, looked at him and laughed.

„What's wrong, milk-drinker? Afraid somebody's gonna cut yer pretty head off?" he pushed him jokingly. Alric just hugged his knees tighter.

„Leave him alone, Hammer. Focus on watching the road." Septiena, only Imperial in the group, pulled him away. Everybody respected her. Even while being Imperial, she proved her worth. Nobody questioned her loyalty to Stormcloaks, not anymore.

„What's with all the ruckus?" man who slept by the fire asked. Almost two feel tall, he almost represented the bear on their banner. That's exactly why they called him the Bear, and his true name was Orig.

Seeing how her group is in shambles, Hjari stood up.

„Listen to me now, boys. There might be a trouble. No matter how strange it sounds, but Alric was always right. Remember that time near the Mistwatch keep?"

Everybody turned to her. Of course. They were beset by group of necromancers that almost killed them. Were it not for Alric's early warning, they would definitively be dead.

„So, what should we do? Hug our ankles and cry?" Agar the Hammer asked.

„You can cry, of course. That won't help us, however. Ready your weapons, boys." Hjari said. Agar the Hammer laughed, again.

„Weapons, eh? We've been here for three days. If this boy has no guts for war, I say kick him out. We don't need milk-drinkers in our group."

As he spoke, his companions slowly took a step back, placing hands on weapons.

„What, you want to attack me now? So much for loyalty. No wonder the Empire managed to-„

He didn't manage to finish his sentence. A blade flashed in the night, a wisp of light made a vicious circle, and his head fell from his shoulders, rolling right next to the firepit.

„Agar!" Septienna screamed.

„We're under attack! Kill them!" Hjari screamed.

It was just one person. One young woman with a golden sword and yet, Agar got killed where he stood. Orig rushed, swinging his huge hammer at girl. He killed so many enemies with this weapon. Too many men fell under its crushing blows. The Bear was sure he could kill her. She started bleeding, her armor got dented and he kept swinging at her. Yet, it wasn't enough. Even when he hit her head, she hit him with a shield and he felt a blade burning his insides. Literally burned, since suddenly his whole body burned. Feeling the strength leaving his body, he fell on his knees and bled out.

„She's killing us! Fall back, boys!" Hjari screamed. But she wasn't fast enough. Septienna fell, pierced by arrows from the ridge above them. She saw her lifeless body, and panic overwhelmed her. They were surrounded. There wasn't any way out. Young Alric was already dead, she saw him getting almost cleft in half by a man with a huge greatsword.

Hjari was the only one alive. And she decided to fight to her last breath. If this was her last battle, she will die with honor.

Facing the attacker, young girl who seemed no worse after all those injuries, Hjari screamed:"For Ulfric, and Skyrim!"

Swinging her blade, she remember the time in Great War when they got surrounded. Her and her comrades managed to fight of fifty attackers, by themselves. Yet, this one woman seemed stronger than any enemy she ever faced. Panic creeped up her spine, and she lowered her guard for one secnod. One second was enough.

A flaming blade caught her neck, and for a single second she watched her headless body falling to the side, before everything she knew ceased to exist.

Dragonborn, Kira, came back to Hadvar's side. Her bladework was so quick, he barely had time to organize his men. And this sword... it looked like it harbored a soul of a Daedra. Looking closely, he recognized a pale, golden sword from the legends. It was a Dawnbreaker. Gods know what she did to get this blade. Hadvar didn't want to guess. Still,they won. It was a major breaking point in the war.

„I will stay here and watch over the cart. You go to the general to tell him the good news." Hadvar said, warming his hands on the crackling firepit. His comrades pulled the dead bodies away, piling them to burn the corpses.

„I'll do that." Kira smiled.

„And, Dragonborn?" he asked, as the girl turned around to leave.

„What's wrong?"

„It's good to be fighting alongside you again." Hadvar smiled.


End file.
